About the project
The Round-the-world Caravan “INTERKULTURA” was conceived as an Olympics of cultures without competition: a travelling celebration of festivals meant to cross more than a hundred countries. Its preparation in Ukraine in 2005–2017 became a story of its own. The name “Interkultura” itself was borrowed in 2005 from a mid-1990s UNESCO project built on Esperanto.
The idea
A non-denominational, non-political, non-commercial, non-profit educational project. Its aim is to strengthen peace between people of different countries, nationalities, faiths and views through the exchange of cultural achievements. Motto: “Peace as the goal, culture as the means.”
Founder
Volodymyr Soroka
Initiator and general producer of the Round-the-World Caravan “Interkultura”, chair of the international organizing committee
He invents formats — and gives them away: when a kindred project appeared alongside his own “Red Book of Ukrainian Culture”, he handed it to the people who were doing it better. He works without budgets, grants or publicity, gathering people, newsrooms and international institutions around an idea — from UNESCO to the Book of Records. And he can turn a loss into an action: when raiders destroyed a children’s library in Poltava, the Book Gate grew out of books collected in Kyiv. More than five hundred initiatives have been supported this way since 2005.
Organizing committee
Yurii SorokaCommittee member, coordinator of the children and youth project “Friendship Without Borders”
Mykhailo LinetskyiCommittee member, coordinator of the movement “In Support of National Languages and Cultures”, liaison with the Universal Esperanto Association
Yevheniia SlovachevskaCommittee member, coordinator of the movement “A Common Language for the Children of the Planet” and of the Young Journalists’ Centre
Hanna ChuikoCommittee member, coordinator of the movement “In Support of UNESCO Projects and Resolutions”, Kyiv coordinator of the UNESCO Associated Schools project
Bohdan LysCommittee member, chief coordinator of the Caravan in the Poltava region
Olha ShyhanskaCommittee member, head of PR at the Caravan Information Agency
Iryna ShmyholCommittee member, senior manager of the Caravan Information Agency
Oleksandr TytchenkoCommittee member, head of the web department of the Caravan Information Agency
Nataliia PavlenkoCommittee member, photographer of the Caravan Information Agency
Oksana MyrhorodskaCommittee member, liaison with the World Esperanto Youth Organisation (TEJO)
Andrii YankovskyiCommittee member, head of the interactive education centre
Anton SazonovCommittee member, coordinator of the “Arts as Languages of Friendship” parade of festivals- Tamara FediaiExecutive director of the Caravan Information Agency
- Olha TykhonovaCaravan Information Agency: press centre of Trypillian Circle 2008, curator of an area at the 2009 Language Festival
- Pavlina KravchenkoPhoto reporter of the Caravan Information Agency
Creative and artistic council
- Jean-Marc LeclercqHead of the Caravan’s creative council (France); a singer listed in the Guinness Book of Records for songs in 22 languages
International movements
- since 1997
“In Support of National Languages and Cultures”
Launched in 1997 at the World Youth Esperanto Congress in Hungary, together with the creative association GAUDEAMUS.
- since 2000
“A Common Language for the Children of the Planet”
Media campaigns and educational projects for children and young people; 22 Kyiv universities joined at the start.
- since 2003
“NABAT 2020”
A movement towards National Assemblies of charitable associations, conceived in Poltava. Its founding document is the memorandum “NABAT — Protect Culture!”.
- since 2006
“In Support of UNESCO Projects and Resolutions”
A civic movement of educators, including members of the UNESCO Associated Schools project.
- since 2006
“Clean Channels” media movement
Journalists and newsrooms that support non-commercial cultural and educational projects and take responsibility for the ethical impact of their work.
- since 2006
“Feel the Taste of Your Native Language”
It grew out of a one-day Native Language Day campaign inside the national-languages movement. The festival of the same name came about on the initiative of Oles Zhuravchak; further campaigns followed, and the format became a movement of its own.
- since 2008
“SOBI RAJ”
A movement listed among the international movements launched by the Caravan, with 2008 as its founding year. Beyond the name and the year, the sources say nothing about it.
- since 2008
“Eco-Culture” world movement
The movement around the parade of festivals of the same name — alcohol-free and tobacco-free events where culture and nature are taken together. From its very first year it worked on Facebook in 35 languages.
- since 2009
“Force for Peace” / FORPEACE
A peace movement under the motto “Force — not for war, but for peace”. Its mark squeezes the English FORCE FOR PEACE into a single word, FORPEACE. The flashmob parades for the International Day of Peace ran under it.
- since 2010
SMILEvishe volunteer movement
“Braver — with a smile”: Caravan volunteers at Kyiv Fairy Tale, Treasure Island and the 2010 Parade of Peace Songs.
Today
The Caravan itself was later renamed from “INTERKULTURA” to “ECO-CULTURE”, and “Cooperate For Life” became the platform bringing its movements together. In 2025 the international project became the Global Centre for the Support of Eco/Intercultural Movements “Cooperate for Life”.Cooperate for Life ↗
About the sources
This site is built from the archive of the original site interkulturo.info and from public sources. Figures marked “as reported by the organization” are given as the organization states them.